Pastel birthday desserts

I'm back! And I have officially decided that home buying is one of the worst experiences ever. I hope we like living in this house, because I can't say I want to do this again anytime soon. And that's not to say that anything has gone wrong. My stress level is just through the roof trying to figure all this stuff out while simultaneously sorting/packing belongings, working at my job, doing the everyday stuff (laundry, dishes, making dinner, etc.), and dealing with the world in general. Sigh.

So today I'm throwing in a quick blog post for a little change of pace. I have three birthday cards that use the same stamp and die set and color combo. I won't go into too much detail, but I think all of the cards are fairly self-explanatory. If you have questions, though, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll respond as soon as I can.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake (Essentials by Ellen), Birthday Backgrounds (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Mint Macaron card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Chocolate Truffle amalgam ink (Gina K Designs); Soft Suede, Mint Macaron, Soft Sea Foam, Powder Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Cake dies (Essentials by Ellen), Stitched Shapes dies (Stampin' Up!), Skyscape Mini Cover Plate dies (Catherine Pooler), Subtles Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!), Iridescent Bubbles (Taylored Expressions), White Tea Lace Paper Doily (Stampin' Up!), jute twine (May Arts Ribbon), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute), Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

This stamp set is a two-step set, so there are separate stamps for the outline images and the filler images. You could stamp just the outlines and color or paint the images, but I went for the quicker option of stamping. For this card, I tried to create the look of the desserts sitting on a table. I love how the bit of doily looks like a tablecloth.

For this card, I used a few die-cut stitched circles to spotlight the images and sentiment, and I doodled a double frame around the edges to break up the solid background. I usually like the look of hand-drawn borders, but I'm honestly not sure I love it on this card. (I think maybe it needed a little more, like some swirls or curlicues.)

For the last card I layered a white scalloped rectangle on the front of the card as well as on the inside (see below). I focused on just the cupcake images from the stamp set, placing three on the front of the card and one inside to coordinate with the punny sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today -- and for hanging on through all the craziness. I'm hoping to get back to consistent blogging in October. It might not be terribly frequent, but if I start with one post a week, I can work my way back up. Have a wonderful weekend!

Bright butterflies and an update

Quick life update: my sister and I bought our first house! It's exciting and completely nerve-racking all at once. We'll be closing and moving in about a month, which means the next few weeks are going to be crazy! I started boxing up the craft room today, so my card-making will be on hold for awhile. I do have several cards and card sets I haven't shared on my blog yet, so I'm planning to squeeze those in when I need a break from packing. :)

Speaking of a break from packing, let's get to today's cards, featuring a few bright butterflies. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Brilliant Butterflies (My favorite Things), Totally Random Sayings Vol. 3 (Essentials by Ellen)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Basic Black card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Stardust Gelly Roll pen (Sakura)
Accessories: Frame in Frame 2 Cutting Plate (Taylored Expressions), orange sequins (Craft medley), sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Bitty Banner punch (Stampin' Up!), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute)

I love the style of these butterflies, and they're perfect for clean and simple cards. I didn't get the coordinating dies, so I decided to stamp the butterflies directly on a heavyweight white card base. I chose three pairs of bold colors (pink, orange/yellow, and aqua) with a dark and light shade of each. I used the dark shade for the top pair of solid butterfly wings and the light color for the bottom. Then I stamped the bodies and detailed wing images in black.

I added accents with black card stock on each card: a strip on the bottom and tiny banner in the upper right corner on the first card and a scalloped frame on the second. Then I stamped a sentiments and added trails of sequins around the butterflies.

To add a little sparkle to the butterflies, I used a Stardust Gelly Roll pen to fill in some of the sections in the detailed wing images. It's a subtle detail, but fun when it catches the light.

This stamp set would be great for making a set of cards -- just choose one layout and then use a different butterfly color and sentiment for each card.

I realized this week that in the midst of house hunting I completely missed my 10-year blog anniversary, which was Aug. 1. Oops. I had wanted to do something to recognize the occasion, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen right now. Maybe I'll do something toward the end of the year -- I'm thinking about a post where I share my favorite card from every year I've been blogging. If you have ideas about what I could do, let me know in the Comments.

Thanks for stopping by!